Sunday, 13 April 2014

A trip summary with information here helpful to anyone else planning something similar...Basic Plan
Cycle from Melbourne to Sydney via the southern coastal route through Gippsland then up the NSW coast, avoiding the Princess Highway where possible. Most of my route is on road, though about 150 km all up on dirt roads (Rail Trails in particular, which are great for riding).

Flying Domestic With a Bicycle in Australia

I flew back to Melbourne with the bike. Carriage rules and weight restrictions depend on the the airline, this information is for Qantas Domestic and is correct at least at the time of writing!

To fly with your bike:

Book your flight, and figure our how much your luggage will weigh, including the bike. A ticket currently allows 30 kg max with your main bag, so I purchased an additional allowance of 1 more bag, so my total was 60 kg. Book the additional luggage allowance. This cost roughly 70$ extra.

On Qantas, the bike must be in a box, which you buy from the sales counter when you check in ($22 extra)

I used a bike bag (below) to get my bike to the airport. I then just loaded the whole bag into the box, for a bit more protection. The box on its own has no padding. I also bought my own tape to the airport.

You are allowed to pack accessories in the bike box, provided they meet all other luggage rules!

You must deflate the tyres, remove the pedals, and turn the handlebars sideways before boxing it.

The bike then gets loaded into oversize items, which is also where you collect it from when you land. This all went smoothly for me, though not all the staff were all that familiar with their own rules..to be expected I suppose, given its probably not all that common as a request.

Friday, 11 April 2014

It was pouring with rain all night and I was expecting more of the same when I got up, only to see patches of bright blue sky in the morning perfect riding weather - brilliant!

My plan for today was to ride up the coast, through the national part and emerge on the edge of Sydney's Southern suburbs at Grays point. I'd then try and negotiate my way to the town centre. If that failed: plan b was to take a more easterly route across the national park to Bundeena, get a ferry to Cronulla and then the train into the city centre. Either way its not far, but navigating to the centre of Sydney was not going to be all that easy.

The bike path north of Wollongong is whole lot better than the southern part. Its clearly marked, in great condition, and winds its way alongside the northern beaches through some stunning scenery.

North of Wollongong

Near Austinmer its back on the road, which becomes windy and hilly as you start to climb towards the hills in the photo above. Then there is the superb sea bridge section. The road has been raised on huge concrete pillars next to the massive coastal cliffs, and winds its way alongside the dramatic coastline...complete with a big swell rolling in below and alongside you while you ride. I put my helmet cam on here and took some film footage I'll post later. Just a still for now.

Sea Cliff Bridge

I stopped briefly before and after this section to put the helmet cam on/off. Riding round the next corner...was another shock.

Road workers had set up a temporary block. Sirens wailing behind as the police arrived...to what turned out to be a nasty van vs bicycle accident. It sounded bad...I believe the rider was coming the other way...there is the monstrous descent in that case, so he probably was travelling quickly. A passer by told me the van was pulling out of a side street and didn't see the cyclist. I hope he is OK, the airlift helicopter got there very fast so he was at least getting excellent care...but it sounded bad.

The road got closed here as a crime scene...and this was a bit for a problem for the trip, for what its worth. I waited around for a while to see if the road was going to be re-opened but the police were saying it would be about 5 hours and all the traffic was getting turned back. The only alternative route for me would mean about 30 km cycling back towards Wollongong, and then head north along the busy Princess Highway again. I didn't really have the range or inclination for that! Instead, settled on riding back to a train station about 2 km back, waiting an hour for a train, then going forward 1 stop to Coal cliff which would get me just past the accident site, and start riding again from there. This all worked fine but I wasn't riding again till well after lunch, so had a long way to go still.

The climb up to Bald hill from here was awesome...but my mind was more on the poor guy who'd got hit. The remaining traffic on the road had got the picture and were all driving with great care at least.

Top of Bald Hill

At this point the road heads into the national park for another beautiful section of road to ride. But 'Bianca' (my bike) had been playing up. Whenever I was coasting, the chain would catch and try to detach itself...and off and on when pedalling, the forward motion of the pedals was not driving the rear wheel. Bearings I think...and not a problem I can fix. The next town was still 30km away which felt like a very long way...I limped along here pedalling, coasting, and occasionally walking...too busy to take many photos of the beautiful park unfortunately!

Finally at Audley, feeling very hungry and tired, I connected with the Bundeena track and emerged in the southern suburbs of Sydney at Grays Point. A relief to be here, but riding down town was now not an option. I got the bike as far as the Gymea train station...and jumped on board to end the trip somewhat unceremoniously as dusk fell.

This last day felt the toughest on the trip...despite a meer 79 km!! The last 30km was a major slog. It felt a bit of a shame not to ride into the centre of the city...I'd built up a mental picture or riding right to the harbour bridge. But in the end took some satisfaction from at least reaching the suburbs.

What a great trip. Such diversity in scenery, such a massive and beautiful country to explore, and on a bike you see it at what I think is the 'right' pace.

I'll sum up the trip soon and add route maps, helmet cam footage etc when I get back to Melbourne. But for now, its time to enjoy Sydney with my wife!

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Last night another touring cyclist
arrived at the camp ground who was Sydney based and had loads of
riding experience in this area. He had some great info. The bike
route north into Wollongong could be described as erratic at best,
and Sydney the following day, is a whole new issue. So, it was great
hearing some route ideas from a local.

7 Mile Beach & National Park

It was a wet morning today, and took me
a while to get moving despite being up at 6.30. The first section of
the day was the link road north to the Princess Highway. This was
narrow, no shoulder, and not very nice. Though the Seven Mile Beach
national park it runs through was very nice...and I had a peak at 7
mile beach last night at dusk.

Near Kiama

From Gerong there were 2 quite big hill climbs, and
then was able to leave the highway at Kiama. From here, in theory you
can take bike paths all the way to Wollongong. I say in theory, as it
would better be described as a discombobulation of tracks, than a
bike path! In some places very well marked, only to suddenly
disappear altogether – which happened often. But in places quite
pretty too as the 'path' follows the coast cliff tops in many places.

Wollongong

As you get closer to Wollongong, there
is the delight of the industrial zone to get through. The bike path
here is just the pavement, but there is no pedestrian traffic. What a
contrast this was from the last few weeks...

I pulled in to Wollongong around
2pm...it was under 80km but average speed very low with all the
constant map checking and faffing about trying to find the way.
Pretty rubbish day on the bike to be fair...but they cant all be
glamorous eh?

I stayed in doors here and have been
trimming down the gear for the last day...and trying to figure out
how to cycle into downtown Sydney tomorrow.

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Today was going to be a bit of a non event for scenery...with no options for looking around without making major detours. I got up early and sourced out breakfast at the slightly bizarre ' Scouse House'.

This delivered everything you'd expect from the title. Thick Scouse 'n proud accents from the staff, a 'greasy spoon' menu..and the place festooned with Scouse paraphernalia; renovated vinyl, football posters etc. Actually the breakfast ended up being a lot better than a greasy spoon feed, thankfully! And the coffee was very good.

Plus, I ate my eggs to the theme of Dead of Alive "You spin me" which seemed appropriate!

Today I wanted to get through the cycle unfriendly town of Nowra as quickly as possible, so rode quite hard in one big push of 85 kms. There was one really rather big hill to get through on the way, but at this point there was a good shoulder and freshly laid bituman so it was quite quick riding. There was a big group of club or charity riders here as well, going the other way complete with escort...we shouted encouragement at one another.

The last few kms into Nowra are grim riding, but I got through this fine without any dramas. I turned off the highway here and pulled over at Shoalhaven heads. Great to stop at lunch time...finally could get these blog posts up as the wifi here WORKS.

I actually slept pretty well despite
the nightmare, and realised its just the brain processing an event
and not worth dwelling on too much. Nevertheless I'd be as careful as
possible on the Princes Highway today.

First, I had to buy a new phone. Its
ridiculous how dependant you get on these trips on a smart phone. I
had paper maps for longer distance planning which were fine outside
the major urban areas, but loved the nightly chats with my wife
anddidn't fancy approaching Wollongong or Sydney without Google Maps!

So it was a matter of wheeling the
laden 'Bianca' into the Batemans Bay shopping mall, up the disabled
access ramp (as it felt too risky to lock her up outside here). The
whole time I was under the watchful gaze of a security guard who
probably was wondering what the hell the filthy tourist was up too.
He didn't stop me though...I guess my panniers looked far to
conspicuous to try and shoplift with! There were 2 big chain mobile
companies here and the handset prices where ghastly expensive. I
initially decided NO and sat down for breakfast to figure out what
next. On the way out, there was a 'Dick Smith' I'd missed...the
prices were slightly better here though still ghastly. Ruing the
massive expense, and this time getting insurance...I replaced the
phone.

At this point in the trip, if I stayed
only on the highway, it was just under 300kms to Sydney and I had 4
days to do that. My route into town wasn't planned yet but knew I
could ease up on the 100km+ a day thing. I decided to head for
Ulladulla tonight, then try a quick blast through Nowra tomorrow. The
tourers I met in Bermagui had warned me about Nowra and were
sufficiently freaked by the traffic they'd very nearly got a rental
car just for this section...so I was going to treat it with due
respect and at least try and get though fast, at a quiet time of day.

In the meantime, I took a beautiful
detour today down to Murramarang National park and the beach near
South Durras. The down was infested with Kangaroos. Really
infested...one beach house had a whole family on their front lawn,
and in picnic area next to the beach carpark...a large (herd?)were
enjoying the shade. It was nice seeing them up so close as so far I'd
only seen them dead at the roadside, or from a distance.

Skippy!

Murramarang National Park

Murramarang National Park

Heading back to the highway, after my
faffing around this morning looking for a phone, and this detour...it
was suddenly 2pm and I'd barely covered 10km distance towards the
north. I had a strong ride here, doing about 50/60 km in one hit,
with just 1 short stop for a massive piece of carrot cake to keep the
pedals turning. Although it was more highway again today, most of it
was ok with a enough shoulder to keep out of trouble. I forgot about
the alternate route down the old highway here which wouldn't have
lost much time, anyone else doing this route: consider turning off
Princess just north of Durras lake to get off the main road for a
while. Again another cool tip from the folks I met earlier.

The sun was out today and riding
conditions were awesome with little wind, in fact wind has barely
been a factor on this trip. I'll be interested to add up the hills
however...since leaving Bairnsdale there haven't been many flat
sections!

While writing this tonight...this little creature has been constantly trying to sneak up on me to get my dinner. I can't believe how cheeky it is...must have been fed by humans before!

The day started looking like a good one
for a ride. Lucky that! Word around the camp ground was that the
local Mr Jones coffee shop was the best place in town to kick start
your day. So after a small detour to the bakery to fuel up, I meet up
there to say goodbye to the couple I'd met last night. They had some
great info on the road ahead and it was especially nice to talk to
people that 'got' what touring was about.

Batemans Bay

Heading north out of Batemans Bay, my first
waypoint of the day was a detour to 'Mystery Bay' – I'd heard a
couple of people say this was a 'must visit'. Its only a small detour
off the Princess Highway and, had it worked into my days better, this
would have been a great place to camp – it had water and a 'long
drop' toilet and nothing else. Also note there is nowhere to get food
near here.

Mystery Bay

Mystery Bay

As for the bay...its a wild and
beautiful spot. The bay has a golden sand beach with something of a
reef out to sea of jagged rocks. The waves crash in here pretty hard
you'd have to be careful if swimming. There were a few other people
around...but hardly anyone really...just magic.

I spent a while here...but could have
spent the day. Or two.

It was quite late when I left Mystery
Bay so a fairly big afternoon session was on the cards to make my
target for the day. And unfortunately, this also meant a long stint
back on the highway. Near Tuross Head...I was reminded how small and
fragile you are on a bike....

I was crossing a short narrow bridge,
perhaps only 50m long. It was double white line – no passing, and
had no shoulder. Behind me was about 100m or so of straight road –
not a lot, but enough to be seen, so I thought. I was hugging the
left hand white line and heard something big coming up behind me. At
the same time, a ute was coming the other way in the opposite
lane...I just had nowhere to go...but assumed the heavy thing behind
me would slow down. It didn't. Suddenly it flashed by my right
elbow...it felt only a cm or two away and was still accelerating to
clear me before veering hard left into the 80cm or so of sideways
space I had blocked, to not hit the ute. The backblast nearly threw
me and I thought I heard something come off the bike. Veering to a
barely controlled stop at the end of the bride and out the way...I
tried to gather myself. OK check:limbs are still there...yup, I used
them to brake. All the bags were still on the bike...phew. So what
came off? I opened the handle bar bag...the lid was loose. No phone.
Waiting for a gap in the traffic ran back along the bridge and found
it on the road...very smashed. The backwash from the speeding truck
had pulled the Velcro sealed lid open on the bag and sucked out the
phone, but nothing else!!

At least it was just a material
object...it felt like a very close call to me and I tried to fathom
what the driver of the truck was thinking. Maybe be didn't see me
till the last second? I have no clue what company it was and was far
to busy trying not to crash to get the license plate. No choice but
to keep pedalling.

Finally at Moruya I could turn off the
bloody highway, onto the coastal tourist route and ride in relative
peace. It was still 30kms from here and a bit of willpower was needed
to keep going after a long single stint. At an IGA express I grabbed
more water and a large chocolate bar to get me through the last
section. A friendly local saw the loaded bike and came over for chat
which was also nice. I wondered how my friends from this morning
went, on the tricky but pretty hilly section to Tathra.

With weary legs and in a light shower, I arrived at
Surf beach, just south of Batemans Bay and looked for a camp ground
with wifi so I could let my wife know my phone had exploded and not
have her worry if I missed our nightly call. I'd hoped to be able to
update the blog here too and check conditions ahead but the wifi was
so bad all we managed were a few Facebook chat messages.

I had a nightmare that night that the
ute from today was on the other side of the road coming towards me.
Not good!

Yesterday was all about recovery! A day
of light walking, heavy eating, and some TLC for 'Bianca' whom had
taken a complete battering over the last few days in particular. As a
result of the short break, back on the bike today, I felt refreshed
and was excited about a scenic day of riding ahead. And what a day it
turned out to be!

The first section was another brief
stint on the Princess Highway before turning off at Pambula for
Merimbula and connecting up with the Sapphire Coast Drive. Between
Pambula and Tathra wasn't great for cycling thanks to the poor
shoulder and very aggressive traffic. But things got a lot better
from Tathra onwards.

Tathra Wharf

Tathra is a beautiful place. It made
the news recently her for extremely sad reasons when an experience
surf life saver, wife, and aboriginal affairs officer was taken by a
shark off this wharf just a week ago. She was swimming with her
husband and another group of very experience ocean swimmers at the
time...and hearing the devastation in her husbands voice was heart
wrenching.

Tathra Beach

I sat on the beach here for a while and
tried to wish them well while enjoying such a beautiful place at the
same time.

There is a Surf and Bike shop at Tathra
and I picked up a couple more inner tubes after getting my 3rd
puncture earlier. I think the problem has just been not being able to
get 80psi into the tube with my travel pump...but grabbed 2 more
tubes in case and got some local advice on the road ahead. Out of
Tathra...the road quietened down a lot, as it wounds its way through
really stunning ecalayptus forest, with barely a flat section to be
seen.

There were a few sections of farmland
vibrant and green that reminded me very much of my home country. But
even in New Zealand, logging has reduced low land native forest to
about 1%. So seeing this area where in places, the trees run all the
way down to the beach, was a thing of beauty, to be respected and
appreciated.

This 46 km section between Tathra and
Bermagui was just amazing riding. Demanding, beautiful, peaceful all
in one. I stopped to talk to a local and former Londoner who was
beach combing. He'd fell in love with the place years ago and chosen
to retire here. I can see why!

I pulled into Bermagui with the
weariness in my muscles second only to the wide grin on my
face...what a ride! And while setting up camp, met a bunch of
friendly people to swap stories with, including the first tourers I'd
come across on the trip, who were riding in the opposite direction.
Best day of the trip so far.

Friday, 4 April 2014

While going the usual motions of packing this morning the power went out for an hour. The forecast was for heavy rain and I was expecting a similar effort to yesterday with hills, but a bit further to pedal.

For the first hour on the bike it was great riding, with light rain and cool temperatures helping. And the lush rain forest on either side was awesome to ride though.

At the tiny village of Genoa I tried the only place there, an old hotel, for a hot drink. I could not have been more out of place and found it very amusing. 2 old fella locals were enjoying their 11am beer and talking about the various merits of shotgun vs rifle for getting the fox that got 3 of his chooks early that morning.

The instant coffee in a polythene cup still tasted pretty good after the hills I must say!

And then leaving Genoa...came the rain. It poured. It rained like it does in The 'Nam...and I should know...I've been there (man).

In all seriousness...a couple of times it was a case of pulling over because I couldn't see the road, and nothing could see me despite my gash fluoro jacket and lights. I also picked up my 2nd puncture of the trip here, and was struggling to keep water out of the tire when switching the new tube on. A motorist pulled over to check I was OK which was very kind. In fact all day there were honks of the encouragement from passing cars - definitely helped keep me moving!

Crossing into NSW felt good...my 2nd state border crossing in Aus by bike. Shame there was no sign though, or maybe I just couldn't see it!

Just before Eden there is a final cluster of steep hill sections and the last 5km seemed to drag on forever. Probably because I was down to walking pace by that point! But job done, passed half way on the trip and will take a day off tomorrow and spent some time maintaining the bike and having a good look round.

Overnight showers fell pretty steadily
but thankfully never really getting too heavy and I stayed dry in my tent. After packing up this morning, I headed straight for a
little cafe I'd spotted the night before: the 'Two Little Owls' Cafe, that
looked a bit different from the usual bakery at reminded me of a
mate.

There was a waft of warm baking smell
emitting from their kitchen on going through the door, and the
proprietor was busy cooking and serving on their own, in true small
business multi tasking style. I had an amazing muffin, scone and
coffee and nicely fuelled up for the day. Much better quality than recent bakery’s.

Today was going to be a short day but I
was expecting a lot of hill work. Also the weather forecast wasn't
looking good...earlier plans to camp in the area between here and NSW
had to be caned.

After a few km's down the road the rain
went up a couple of levels. I put my lights and fluro vest on, and
it was a bit of case of head down and grind up and down the rolling
hills. At the hamlet of Cabbage Tree Creek there is a cute cafe and I
stopped for a welcome hot drink.

It was a bit of a shame about the
weather here as this area was one of the best sections of the trip
for little side trips to explore. The rainforest looked lush and
alive.

Arriving at Cann River early, and
utterly drenched...I checked into a motel and spent a few hours
updating the blog...first wifi access in a while! It was an easier
day in terms of distance, but with 1220m of climbing...the thighs were feeling it.

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

I had an itchy night in the tent after
serving myself for dinner to the insect community of Lake Wellington.
As I was packing my bag, this beautiful red parrot came down to check
out my stuff. I wished it had been around at dusk to take out some bugs for me...too late buddy! I got on the move early.

My first waypoint for the day was
Bairnsdale. I'd given 'Bianca' a quick check last night and a couple
of rear spokes felt too lose. Bairnsdale has the last bike shop for
the next 400km so I was hoping to get that checked out before heading
into the more remote area of East Gippsland, and the big hills.

Rivera Cycles were awesome. They tuned
up the the wheel straight away while I stocked up on supplies for the
next leg. Really glad I did this, could easily have resulted in a
busted wheel if left unattended.

From Bairnsdale the East Gippsland RailTrail runs for 97km to Orbost and is a great alternative to the
Freeway. Though with limited supply options along the way. It was a
bit of a risk taking Bianca down the trail however. Laden with
panniers and running on thin 25 mm tires, handling on gravel and sand is
poor. The 30-40 kg on the bike makes a big, big difference. I thought I'd at least try, as there were plenty of places
along the way to re join the road if it proved to tricky.

The first section is sealed but bumpy,
and OK, just. I came off twice, at low speed...as the front wheel
would slide in the gravel when trying to dodge the bigger stones. But
the track was stunning and lovely having a break from the traffic.

I came across a big group of kids doing
their 'silver' level Duke of Ed challenge, and it was good having a
chat with with their support team who were like minded. They kindly
offered me some water, as so far the day had been another roasting hot one. I was having to carry 4-5 litres...but rain was coming...and it
arrived in style!

East of Bruthen thunder rumbled closer,
along with menacing looking clouds. I felt rather too exposed and a bit like a
mobile lighting rod along the top of the ridge, and when the rain
started it was getting trickier to stay on the bike. So at Nowa
Nowa...had to opt out and get back on the main road.

Rail trail riding

For the final section of the day the
legs felt awesome and I smashed the last 30km to Orbost in the rain,
wheeling into the only camp ground in town hoping to get a roof over
my head for a wet night. Unfortunately, all the cabins they had were
taken up with Telstra workers repairing recent fire damage, so had no
choice but the tent. But awesome day all in all...and great to be in the trees again.

Overnight some light showers came over
so the tent got packed up wet. This always seems to make a difference
as I'm conscious of getting to my destination with at least a tiny
bit of daylight left to dry it out before use. My tent is an ultra
small, ultra light 1 person MacPac Microlight – I'm really happy
with it and it will keep you dry...if pitched dry.

I got a nice early start anyway and was
on my way out of town before 8.30. The South Gippsland Highway was
blissfully quiet too. Today's plan was an indirect route eastwards
off the main roads as much as possible. I wanted to check out 90 mile
beach, which would add quite a bit of distance on.

Turning off the Highway, I was rewarded
with a cyclists dream down Giffard Road. This was 1 lane, freshly
re-laid bitumen that wound its way through a mixture of forest and
farmland. Eventually this hits the coast at the town of Seaspray.
Here the coast stretched off in the distance with barely a soul to be
seen...just one older women doing Yoga and 'Saluting the Sun' which
seemed superbly apt. I was hoping to find food here but with only
takeaways on offer, had to stick to some spare crackers. It was with
a great deal of reluctance I got back on the bike to moving again!

From here, it was north to Sale. The
entrance from the south was very busy but I found a bike path that
avoided the freeway bridge that runs into town. It really warmed up
as the afternoon wore on, so filled up on water for a third time,
before leaving town and heading east. I thought maybe I had a chance
of reaching Paynesville or Bairnesdale...but as the heat of the
afternoon beat down...I found myself low on water yet again still
with at least 30km to go before either of those options. Google maps
showed a camp ground at a town called Meerlieu I which was my 'Plan
B'. As it turned out, the camp ground is a good 7/8km further south
of the town down an unsurfaced road that was pretty rough on my road
tires. By the time I hauled into camp I was hot and knackered...this
camp ground almost looked a little derelict. There was hardly a soul
to be seen! The women running the place looked very surpised to see
me, and only charge me $10 to pitch my tent. Money well spent for
some water and a shower even though the place was pretty run down. Can't really complain with that price...plus, there was this:

Lake Wellington when the sun when down:

This coincided with a massive invasion
of midges, mosquito's...and all other things small and crawly. They
attacked every inch of exposed skin...I foolishly had no repellent.
Walking to the toilet after dark I wondered what the bright lights
reflecting off the ground were, only to get close and see they were
spiders eyes! My wife would not have liked this place...